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$1.17 Billion Budget Cuts Taxes 1.8%

WITH a budget for 2000 in place that has a property tax break and increased spending for many social service and cultural programs, county officials are now looking to see who -- themselves included -- might deserve a raise.

On Monday, the Board of Legislators unanimously approved a record $1.17 billion budget that provides a 1.8 percent decrease in the amount collected from property taxes. The budget enhances financing for a variety of programs aimed at helping the poor and fighting teenage smoking and domestic violence and maintains the $1.40 bus fare. The budget also has increased spending on cultural programs and includes a $500,000 allocation for yet-to-be determined ''community'' programs.

Mr. Spano, who signed the budget Tuesday, said, ''For two years in a row, we have reduced the tax levy -- this year by the largest amount in county history. In 2001, we plan to reduce taxes again.'' Richard G. Wishnie, a Democrat from Briarcliff Manor and chairman of the Board's Committee on Budget and Appropriations, said of the budget, ''It does what people want in terms of cutting taxes and maintaining services.''

The actual impact of the budget on individual taxpayers varies from community to community because of their different assessing practices, but that information was not immediately available.

In a related development, the county in one hour on Tuesday sold $100 million in bonds, at an average rate of 6.87 percent, giving investors the right to the county's 2011-2020 share of money from the nationwide settlement of lawsuits against the tobacco companies. That so-called ''tobacco securitization plan'' had been the most controversial element of Mr. Spano's budget but was approved by the Board last month.

The proposal for pay raises was included in the proposed budget County Executive Spano submitted to the Board in November, but discussion on the pay proposals took a back seat to other aspects of the budget during the last six weeks. Under Mr. Spano's proposal, neither he nor County Clerk Leonard N. Spano (not related to the county executive) would be eligible to receive the raise during their current terms of office.)

With the vote on the budget behind them, the Board is now focusing its attention on the question of raises. A legally required public hearing will be held tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the County Office Building in White Plains on whether raises should be given to Board members. Action could come as early as Tuesday on this as well as raises for the county executive, the county clerk and top appointed officials who are not part of a union.

Here are the specific salary proposals now under consideration:

*To raise the salary, beginning in the their next term of office in two years, of the county executive to $143,535 from $119, 085 and the county clerk to $136,700 from $118, 345.

*To raise the base salary of the Board's 17 legislators to $43,060 from the current $34,000 or to raise it to $42,455 by linking it in the future to the county's employee pay plan.

*To raise 200 top appointed officials, including commissioners and deputies, 9.8 percent retroactive to last Jan. 1, and 3.5 percent next year and again in 2001.

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Mr. Wishnie said he believed there was support for the raises for the top-level managers who have not had a raise in five years and for the next elected county executive and county clerk. But there is, he said, not yet a consensus among Board members as to whether they should raise their own salaries and if so, by how much.

''I am in favor of some raise, but I'm not quite sure I would support the amount being discussed at the moment,'' he said. He said that even though the public hearing will focus on a specific dollar amount, the Board could legally enact a lower amount without having to hold another public hearing.

George Oros, Republican of Cortlandt, said, ''I don't have a problem with upgrades for the commissioners, and I'm open minded on the county executive and clerk. But I do have concern about raising our pay for the second time in four years.''

That last pay raise, which took effect in 1996, was part of an overhaul of the way legislators are paid. The Board increased the base pay of all legislators but eliminated the practice of paying them $60 for every committee meeting they attended.

The two legislators expressed divergent ideas on how the job of county legislator should be viewed. Mr. Wishnie said it was a full-time job, even if legislators were not working straight 9 to 5 days; Mr. Oros said it was a part-time job.

The budget originally proposed by County Executive Spano in November would have allowed a $6.2 million decrease in the amount collected from property taxes, or a 1.7 percent cut, and would have raised bus fares 10 cents and cut some bus routes. The Board, during its five weeks of deliberation on the budget, rejected the bus fare increase and elimination of routes and added $9.1 million in spending to the budget. Among the additions was a $500,000 item for yet-to-be-determined community programs. Mr. Wishnie, the chairman of the Budget Committee, said criteria would be developed to allocate this money.

The Board offset its additions with $13.1 million in revenues not included in Mr. Spano's budget. The end result is a budget where the amount that will be collected in property taxes will be $6.44 million less than in 1999, or 1.8 percent. The 1999 $1.13 billion budget, in turn, reduced the amount collected in property taxes by 0.65 percent.

While officials praised the trend, the two-year totals keep Mr. Spano far from fulfilling his campaign pledge of 1997 to reduce the county tax levy 15 percent during his four-year term of office. Mr. Spano has said he has not given up on that goal but has been frustrated by reductions in state aid. Critics maintain, however, that he has benefited from a windfall from the tobacco lawsuits, which will generate about $445 million to the county over 25 years.